title: Direct enzyme immunometric measurement of plasma big endothelin-I concentrations and correlation with indicators of left ventricular function.
abstract: Recent studies have suggested that the plasma concentrations of endothelin-1, a potent vasoconstrictive peptide, are increased in patients with congestive heart failure. This study aimed to evaluate a new direct ELISA for big endothelin-1 (the precursor of endothelin-1), in comparison with a big endothelin-1 ELISA using plasma sample extraction, and to investigate whether plasma big endothelin-1 concentrations correlate with indicators of left ventricular function. The direct ELISA yielded significantly (P < 0.001) lower results than the assay with extracted samples (0.9 +/- 0.5 pmol/L vs 2.7 +/- 1.9 pmol/L; n = 90); however, the results of the two assays were closely correlated (r = 0.86, P < 0.001). Plasma big endothelin-1 concentrations exhibited a significant (P < 0.001) negative correlation (r = -0.46, r = -0.40) with the left ventricular ejection fraction and a significant positive correlation (r = 0.40, P < 0.001; r = 0.36, P < 0.01) with the left ventricular end-diastolic pressure and the left ventricular end-diastolic (r = 0.42, r = 0.38, P < 0.001) and end-systolic (r = 0.52, r = 0.47, P < 0.001) volume indices. Plasma big endothelin-1 concentrations were notably greater in patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II-IV symptoms than in patients without cardiac disease or in patients categorized to NYHA class I. These data suggest that plasma big endothelin-1 concentrations, measured by a direct ELISA, correlate with hemodynamic indicators and symptoms of left ventricular dysfunction.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Chemistry, University Hospital, Ulm, Germany. cornelia.haug@medizin.uni-ulm.de
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Haug
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Koenig
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hoeher
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kochs
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hombach
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gruenert
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Osterhues
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019332:Endothelin-1; D016232:Endothelins / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000097:blood; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D019332:Endothelin-1; D016232:Endothelins; D011498:Protein Precursors